I’ve had four babies and I can attest, there’s nothing as fun when they’re little as when they tried solids for the first time. I remember sour faces they made when they tried peas for the first time and the num num sounds they all seem to make when they realize it’s dessert and you’ve got banana.
If there’s one piece of advice I can give to anyone getting ready to feed their baby solids for the first time it’s that you should prepare your kitchen for making big batches of baby food before you start them on solids. When you have everything set up and ready to go, making and feeding your baby solids is quick, easy, and a lot of fun.
Here are a few things you’ll need to prep your kitchen for a food-loving baby.
Baby gear you’ll need when baby starts solids
Although you may have only been using a bouncy seat for your baby, when you’re about to start solids you’ll want to look into getting a high chair with tray. There’s a lot of choice when it comes to high chairs, and you can find high chairs like the Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair or the guzzie + Guss Perch Hanging Chair that fit perfectly into small homes.
If you’ve got more space you can choose anything from the Evenflo Symmetry Marianna flat fold high chair to the Summer Infant Turtle Tales Wooden High Chair.
Kitchen appliances you can use to create baby food
I used a blender and a steamer to make baby food. Together they give you a quick and easy way to puree your baby’s first solids and make huge batches of baby food, but there are baby food makers that do the job and they do it in a smaller, more convenient package.
Take the Cuisinart 2-in-1 baby food maker for example. It’s a baby food maker that steams your fruit and vegetables, and then you can use it to blend it right up in the bowl. The bowl even stores left overs so you have some for the next day.
Extra’s that make baby food storage easy
Any parents who has ever made baby food knows that an ice cube tray is their go-to kitchen extra for baby food storage. It’s just so easy to puree baby food and place it in the little cubes, and once they’re frozen you can pop out a few cubes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner anytime you’d like.
There are a lot of different baby food storage solutions you can add to your kitchen, but you’ll want to grab a set of Munchkin Fresh Food Freezer Trays and a great multi-portion container like the BeaBa container. Both will really come in handy when you’re making baby food.
What else do you need to feed your baby solids?
You might love your dinnerware, but to save it from potentially hitting the floor if your baby makes a grab for the bowl, you’re going to want to invest in some of baby’s own plates and spoons.
I love the Boon Divided Plates. They keep your baby’s foods separate on the plate and are dishwasher safe for easy clean up. For spoons, all you’ll need is the BPA-free Munchkin 6-pack of soft spoons and you’re ready to go.
Last, but definitely not least, you’ll need to stock up on baby bibs and smocks. I saved so many cute outfits because I grabbed a bib at the last minute, and if you have never tried to get butternut squash out of a white baby tshirt, you’ll be glad the bib helped you skip the experience.
Just like I have a drawer of kitchen towels, I also had a drawer of baby bibs. I’d go through 3 or 4 a day, and they really come in handy in protecting your baby’s clothes during the drool-y/teething stage too.
It’s easy to prep your kitchen for when your baby begins to eat solids, and you’ll really appreciate having everything on hand when you’re making baby food every day. Enjoy this fun stage in your baby’s life!
Main image from Gerber.com
